GoDaddy’s aftermarket platform Afternic caused concerns for domain sellers today with a discussion about pricing discrepancies. In response to a tweet from competitor Efty about charging more for Afternic listings than for direct sales through landing pages, the company tweeted: Afternic Reseller partners spend significant money and resources to get …
Read More »
Washington State insurance commissioner went after company for offering insurance product. Domain name registrar Epik shut down its DNProtect service earlier this month, and now we know why. The Washington State insurance commissioner was investigating DNProtect and entered into a consent decree with Epik and its former CEO, Rob Monster, …
Read More »
An attorney explains some questionable assertions domain investors make. Attorney John Berryhill speaking at the Internet Commerce Association meeting in Las Vegas, January 2023. Last week at the Internet Commerce Association meeting in Las Vegas, attorney John Berryhill discussed some common things he hears domainers say. Here’s what he had …
Read More »
Company changes commission structure for semi-exclusive domains. Naming platform Squadhelp is lowering the commission it charges sellers of some domains if the domains sell on Afternic instead of Squadhelp. Squadhelp offers two listing types: Premium and Standard. With Premium listings, Squadhelp undertakes marketing, including featuring the domains to people running …
Read More »
WIPO panel denies cybersquatting claim over valuable four letter domain name. Lolo, LLC, a North Carolina company that operates a business at LoLo.gifts, has been found (pdf) to have engaged in reverse domain name hijacking for the domain LoLo.com. The company first attempted to buy the domain from the person …
Read More »
System makes it easier for registrars to interact with registries that have multiple top level domains. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has granted patent number 11,570,141 (pdf) to Afilias (now part of Identity Digital) for Coordinating transactions for domain names administered using a domain name portfolio. When companies began …
Read More »
Ebook reader company got what it wanted, but at what cost? Pocketbook International, a maker of e-readers, now owns pocketbook.com. Pocketbook International, a maker of ebook readers, has acquired the domain name pocketbook.com through a legal settlement. The company’s quest for the domain name began in 2019 when it filed …
Read More »
A cannabis-tracking firm, a curfew-beating service, and a business that sells communication radios bought domain names. Sedo’s top public sale of the week, ThisAV/com for $99,000, was used as an adult NSFW site and still resolves to that site. It might have been a website purchase rather than a domain. …
Read More »
CEO addresses layoffs and technical issues. I’ve heard more chatter about Epik over the past couple of weeks, and I reached out to Epik CEO Brian Royce for an update. First, I noticed a couple of Epik employees/contractors posting that they’d left the company. Commenting on the layoffs, Royce wrote …
Read More »
Company reports strong growth thanks to advertising business. Today, domain name and online advertising rollup CentralNic (AIM: CNIC) provided its first estimate of revenue and earnings for last year. The company expects to report gross revenue of $728 million, up 77% from last year. Organic growth was approximately 60% when …
Read More »
Where are last year’s big domain sales now? On today’s show, DNJournal publisher Ron Jackson discuss last year’s big sales. Who bought them? How are they being use? Ron also shares some surprising statistics from last year and thoughts about 2023. Also: Charles Schwab, RDNH down under, ICA, 2023 forecast …
Read More »
Car company says goodbye to .fiat, .maserati and other dot-brand domain names. Stellantis decided it doesn’t need a top level domain to sell Maserati cars. Image courtesy Maserati. Car company Stellantis has informed ICANN that it’s terminating contracts to run five top level domains. The automaker notified ICANN last month …
Read More »
Second level .au domain battle probably led to this dispute over a third level domain. Homebuilder.com.au IP Pty Ltd tried to reverse domain name hijack homebuilder.net.au, a World Intellectual Property Organization panel has determined (pdf). This appears to be the second case under the .au Dispute Resolution Policy in which …
Read More »
Panel notes the descriptive nature of the domain names and legitimacy of owning descriptive terms as an investment. Domain Capital has successfully defended (pdf) the domain name colombiancoffee.com in a UDRP. Federación Nacional de Cafeteros de Colombia, a non-profit representing Colombian coffee growers, filed the Complaint with World Intellectual Property …
Read More »
A deck installer, a screenshot software app, and a generator company bought domain names. Sedo’s top public sale this past week was normal.es for $65,000. A SafeNames client bought this domain, but I’m not sure who the end buyer is. Someone got a steal on Sugarcoat.com for £3,000. I wish …
Read More »
The Internet Commerce Association membership just met in Las Vegas. Here are my thoughts. Mentalist Alain Nu entertains the crowd at ICA at the expense of Gregg McNair and Christian Voss. I spent the last few days in Las Vegas for the Internet Commerce Association (ICA) meeting. If you’re not …
Read More »
Domain Observer Domain Observer
